BREAKING NEWS: Quinnipiac faculty has lost its union. After more than 30 years in existence, the National Labor Relations Board has revoked the Quinnipiac Faculty Federation’s certification.
President John Lahey sent out the following letter to full-time faculty:
March 22, 2006
To: Full-time Faculty
From: John L. Lahey
As you may know, the Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Regional Board
in Hartford ruled on March 16, 2006, that Quinnipiac’s full-time faculty are managerial employees as defined by that Board and previous court decisions. As a result, Quinnipiac University will no longer bargain collectively with the faculty union.
The faculty union no doubt served an existing need in Quinnipiac’s past, particularly
decades ago when the faculty were not as well-compensated and the University’s fragile finances gave little sense of security to any of our faculty or staff for that matter. But the Quinnipiac University of today is much stronger in terms of its finances and its faculty governance, and our faculty salaries and benefits are highly competitive. Although we still have many challenges as we move forward, such as meeting the funding needs of our plan for academic excellence and the growth of our endowment, I am confident that the Faculty Senate and its committees will continue to exercise their expanding role in representing faculty rights and responsibilities in all areas of university governance, consistent with the academic traditions at the best private universities in America.
While I have obviously raised concerns in the past about the adversarial structure and culture created by any faculty union, I have never doubted for even a moment the dedication, talent and professionalism of our individual Quinnipiac faculty members. I deeply appreciate all that you have done and continue to do to serve our students and the broader Quinnipiac community. I am confident that together we can build an even stronger culture of mutual trust and respect at Quinnipiac and in so doing, create and sustain the best possible environment for our faculty to teach and our students to learn.
Thank you again for your always exceptional teaching, research and service, and especially for your professionalism and gracious collegiality during the past two months.
Stay with QUChronicle.com for details and reaction.
